We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how pineapples are technically a bunch of berries, fused into something called a syncarp. (You really do learn something new every day…)

Even once you wrap your head around that, though, questions remain – like why on Earth the fruit is on top of the men’s Wimbledon singles trophy.

After all, it’s not like the fruit has royal associations (unlike the three lions on England’s football kit). I can’t think of any obvious tennis links, either.

Yet the mini gold-hued decoration has sat there for over a hundred years, perched on top of the prize like the exotic bobble on a very glitzy hat.

So… what’s going on?

Why is there a pineapple on top of the men’s Wimbledon trophy? 

It seems to be there as a status symbol. 

In 1493, long before the tennis tournament began, Christopher Columbus brought pineapples back to Spain. Europe, including what is now the UK, quickly became besotted with the fruit.

But a predictable problem arose: we couldn’t cultivate pineapple on our rainy, chilly shores. The very rich went so far as to rent pineapples as a display of wealth in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

If you’re wondering how much of a baller move owning one was at the time, a 1677 picture of King Charles II, titled “Charles II presented with a pineapple”, depicted exactly that – his gardener, crouched down, offering the spiky fruit to his Royal hand. 

By the 18th century, the introduction of “hothouses” to the UK made pineapple growth more possible. 

The current Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy was introduced right at the tail end of pineapple-mania: 1887. It replaced the Field Cup (1877-1883) and the Challenge Cup (1884-1886). 

The trophy is handed down through the years rather than being outright given to a winner. Champions’ names were engraved onto the trophy until 2009, when it ran out of space.

It’s not the first time Victorian fads left an outsized impact

If you think social media trends are wild today, a peek at Victorian fads might make them seem quite tame. 

The then-popular fascination with ferns – pteridomania – led some to collect and gift leafy presents. 

It was such a fad that pteridomania has left its mark today in the form of Custard Cream biscuits. 

Their pattern, informed by Victorian tastes, is actually meant to represent ferns unfurling. 

Those guys, eh…